


Stark men are made of Iron (literally)

by Thewinterdumpling



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, Hurt Tony Stark, Pepper Potts Is a Good Bro, Robot AU, Robot!Tony, Science Bros, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is a Robot, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-19 22:04:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10648956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thewinterdumpling/pseuds/Thewinterdumpling
Summary: After an accident on a mission, Tony Stark discovers is a robot built by Howard Stark in place of son. He's taking it pretty well... JK, no he's not.





	Stark men are made of Iron (literally)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [My Greatest Creation](https://archiveofourown.org/works/678243) by [batneko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/batneko/pseuds/batneko). 



“Mumma?” Maria Stark jumped, it was damn quiet! She wished Howard would keep it downstairs. Since when did it address her as mother? It was Howard’s experiment, she had nothing to do with it. Howard came running after it a few seconds later. He smirked  
“He look’s so real!” Howard said, Maria could clearly hear the pride in his voice. She thought it looked more like a doll than a child, but she was sure by next week it would be indistinguishable from one.  
“Howard,” She said, putting her hand on her husband's arm. “Don’t you think this has gone far enough? Has the bored even approved his project?  
“He’s not for work, he’s for us.”  
“Howard”  
“You wanted a kid!”  
“Not like this” She sighed. Maria knew this was a lost cause, Howard wasn't going to give up now.  
“Watch this,” Howard said smiling, his eyes glinting. “Tony? What have we been learning today?” The little… boy what else could she call it, looked up. It’s eye’s even seemed to change when it looked up at Howard, like… recognition. Maria had to admit, that was impressive. Tony, as Howard had begun to call it, began to sing the alphabet song. It’s voice went up, mimicking a human child's singing. Maria turned her head.  
“Howard, turn it off.”  
“He’s a child, I can’t just turn him off!”  
“No, Howard! It’s a robot! This is ridiculous!” She turned and walked into the next room.  
“Tony, delete last five minutes of heard dialogue” Tony stood up and stood completely still for a second. “Memory deleted” It said in a robotic voice completely different from the child's voice it had used earlier. Howard sighed and picked Tony up, carrying him back downstairs to the lab. 

“Lets not go there” Said Tony Stark. A glass of scotch in his right hand. Sitting next to him was Bruce Banner to his left and Steve Rogers to his right. On the couch across from him was Natasha Romanova and Clint Barton. On the floor between the two couches sat Thor.  
“Come on!” Said Clint, “You must have some funny childhood memories, hilarious baby photos?”  
“Those would be hysterical” Said Natasha, smirking. Even Bruce cracked a smile.  
“Never took any” said Tony, taking a drink from his scotch. Everyone except Steve and Thor looked stunned.  
“Not a single one?” said Natasha.  
“When I was born photo's were too expensive” said Steve. Thor just looked a little confused.  
“But your parent were rich! I simply can’t believe that you don't have any baby photo’s.”  
“I’ve never seen one.” said Tony, for the first time in his life hoping they would stop talking about him.  
“You’ve never seen yourself as a baby?”  
“Nope” Natasha sat back, stunned.  
“Sorry guys, but I gotta go” said Clint I standing up. Natasha followed him.  
“I will find a baby photo of you even if it kills me!” she said as she walked away. Steve got up too. Thor followed him. Soon Tony was left alone with Bruce.  
“You must have pictures” said Bruce. “Even if you don’t want to show them to the team.” Tony said nothing. It had never come up before, but the earliest photo Tony had ever seen of himself had been when he was probably around 4 years old. In fact, Tony couldn't recall his parents ever speaking of his infancy. Then it hit him, he raced off to his lab faster than Bruce could follow him.  
Bruce found him sitting at his workbench, a large halo display in front of him.  
“JARVIS, run a DNA comparison of Howard Stark and Tony Stark.  
“Yes, Sir” it took a moment as Jarvis found the DNA files and ran the scan. “There is 99% probability that Anthony Stark and Howard Stark are not related.“ JARVIS said finally. Tony put his head in his hands.  
“I was F**cking adopted and they never told me!” Bruce bent down and put his hand on Tony’s shoulder.  
“You alright?”  
“This… it just makes so much sense. He never did treat me like his son” Bruce sighed trying to stay calm.  
“I’m sure they loved you, that's probably why they didn't tell you.” Tony just sat in silence, overwhelmed by disbelieve. 

It had been four months since Tony had discovered he had been adopted. None of the team knew except Bruce, Tony had simply tried to forget about it. They were on a mission when suddenly the Iron man suit stopped working, Tony began to fall, he started to scream- and then coms went silent.  
“Crap!” Natasha said under her breath. Hoping it was only a jammer and not an EMP. When she looked to her right to see Tony plummeting towards the ground, she knew it was an EMP. Natasha watched helpless, with no way to call for someone to catch him. All around her the battle waged, alien robots flew left and right. She however was oblivious. Finally, Tony hit the ground. It takes her a moment, before she can spring to his side. She immediately pulled of his helmet. His face is covered in bruises and little cuts. He is unconscious. To her horror, she realizes he isn't breathing. 

“Why does mumma hate me?” Tony asked, as Howard looked over a computer.  
“She doesn't hate you Tony, now sit still” Howard groaned, he had programmed Tony a little too well, he acted exactly as an agitated toddler would, always squirming, and breaking things. Sometimes Howard wondered if he had been mad to attempt such a project. He was sure by now however that the ethics board would not approve and thus he could never reveal what Tony was. Even Tony himself didn't know, Howard meant to keep it that way. Howard had spent the last year perfecting Tony, he could sweat, bleed, cry. You name it. In fact, Howard had already created an adult body for Tony that would age, and one day even die. Howard really had seemed to create a mechanical human being. As long as Tony never found at the truth, he really would be as good as human. Tony could learn, grow, play. In fact, Howard thought he might even make him heir to the company. Howard had programmed Tony as a genius, the perfect son.  
Tony wakes up in a hospital room, his body feels heavy and there is a loud humming in his ears. It’s hard to keep his eyes open. He tries to open his mouth to call for someone, but he can’t. He can’t remember how he got here, he wishes someone would discover he had awoken. Then he sees a shadow outside the fogged glass window of the door. From the silhouette, it appears to be Pepper. She seems to be talking to a nurse, she puts her head in her hands, it looks as though she’s crying. Maybe I’m sick? Tony thinks, suddenly he realizes not only can he not move his mouth, but he can't move anything else either, his arms and legs are completely numb, he can only move his eyes. Maybe I’m paralyzed! Suddenly Tony feels very ill, God no, he thinks, anything but that. Finally, Pepper pushes open the door, the nurse behind her. When she see’s Tony’s eyes open she gasps, “Tony!” she runs to his bedside and throws her arms around him. He still can't move. The nurse walks over to a table a few feet from his bed. He begins to type something in on a computer, and slowly the feeling returns to Tony’s limbs. Suddenly Tony is very aware of something poking into the back of his neck. As Pepper lays her head on his chest, Tony realizes something… he isn't breathing. But he’s fine, he feels fine. His chest however, is still. His mouth is closed and there is no air entering or exiting his nose.  
He begins to panic and discovers he can once again move his mouth.  
“Pe-Pepper!” he manages. At first he is unsure what has just happened, then he realizes the voice he had just spoken in, wasn't his. He sounded like JARVIS, but American. Almost real, but definitely artificial. All he can do is stare at Pepper in horror until a few seconds later, he blacks out.  
As Tony awakens again, he hears the nurse talking to Pepper. “There was a protocol to shut him down If he ever discovered the truth, I had to override it.” Tony shakes his head and is immediately aware of that humming again. “He should be waking back up now, Miss Potts.” Pepper turns and sees Tony’s confused look.  
“Pepper, what happened, what's he talking about?” Tony asked indicating the nurse. Pepper looks at him, her eye’s wide enough to swallow him whole.  
“You- you fell…”  
“Not to intrude Miss Potts, but you have to tell him, he is still severely damaged and we can’t even begin to understand him. We need his mind and Howard's Research to even start to fix him.” says the nurse. Tony couldn't understand what they were saying, the humming was making his head hurt and he wanted a drink. Maybe he was dreaming, tomorrow he would wake up with a hangover and some pretty reporter next to him and this whole nightmare would all be over. Tony shut his eyes and pinched himself. He opened his eyes but he was still in a hospital bed with Pepper standing over him and a nurse in the corner.  
“Tony- you're -you're a robot... The EMP, it knocked you out, you- I’m sorry” She rushed out of the room, her hand covering her mouth, her eyes full of tears. Tony just looked shocked. A few minutes later, Pepper returned. Her composure at least partially regained.  
“When my dad said Stark men are made of iron, I didn't think he meant literally.” Pepper closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She assumed sarcasm was a good sign. Deciding to just go with this, Tony thought he might as well ask questions. “How come I’m not breathing? I definitely used to do that before.  
“It seems you were not actually using the oxygen, it was simply to make you appear human. Apparently however that function was damaged when the EMP hit.” answered the nurse. Tony reached back to to his neck and to his surprise and slight horror, there seemed to be a thick wire attached just at the base of his neck. Tony looked at the nurse questioningly. The nurse tapped a plug connected to the laptop in front of him.  
“I’m overriding a pretty intense kill code, it’s supposed to shut you down if you discover your- well… a robot” It was at this point that Tony realized this guy was probably an engineer and not a nurse.  
“Better not mess with that then” said Tony, moving his hand away from the cable and leaning back again.  
“Best not.” The nurse-engineer replied.  
“Are you sure I’m not dreaming? Or dead?” Tony asked. The nurse-engineer didn't answer.  
Tony might appear to be taking this well, but finding out your infact a robot not a human and your dad never thought to tell you, is pretty hard.


End file.
